John Phillips: Deep-blue cities cater to those with green

It seems like every time you open up the newspaper these days, somebody is complaining that the minimum wage is way too low. In California, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that will raise the state's minimum wage by 25 percent, from $8 an hour to $10 an hour, by 2016. President Obama is urging Congress to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. And nationwide, fast-food workers recently went on strike, demanding a $15-an-hour “livable wage.”

Why is this happening? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says it's because of the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots: “Even as the economy creates jobs, too many Americans find themselves on the sidelines watching as the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class are getting squeezed and squeezed. ... There is no greater challenge this country has than income inequality. And we must do something about it.”

These sentiments have been echoed by other Democratic politicians and even got an amen from the new pope, who has pledged to renew the Catholic Church's responsibility to help the poor. Pope Francis says he will use bully pulpit to put a spotlight on the “widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs.”

The pontiff went on to say, “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.”

In light of such statements, it might be natural to assume that the cities with the biggest gaps between rich and poor would be places run by staunch conservatives who worship at the altar of free-market economist Milton Friedman.

That’s not the case. According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the two cities that most embody the growing divide between the rich and poor are New York and San Francisco. Not only are these municipalities not right-wing meccas, you might be able to take all the Republicans from either city and fit them in the green room for guests at the Fox News Channel or the former cell of the Birdman of Alcatraz. These cities are as blue as they come.

Summarizing data from the latest American Community Survey of population and income, Kevin Short of the Huffington Post concludes, “In just the past 20 years, both (cities) have changed from economically diverse melting pots to exclusive playgrounds for the rich.”

Yet in each case, those on the left get virtually everything they want. There aren't enough Republicans at either City Hall to the block tax increases, bond measures or annoying nanny state regulations that will supposedly foster equality and prosperity.

In reality, the result has been a widening gap between the rich and poor, with the middle class leaving town all together.

When you constantly nickel and dime people with more and higher taxes, flood businesses with regulation and put working people at a competitive disadvantage to those in nearby jurisdictions, you're ultimately not harming the rich – the well-to-do will always be able to find a loophole, get city hall to make an exception or write a check to make a problem go away. The middle class, working class and small-business owner don't have that luxury. They just get pounded and, if they complain, are told that they're greedy.

Before people in Washington try to “fix” income inequality with similar initiatives, they should look at New York and San Francisco and realize that their “solutions” will just make things even worse.

Register opinion columnist John Phillips hosts a radio show on KABC/AM 790 in Los Angeles.

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